WEBVTT AT HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL TRACKHAS THAT COMMUNITY DEMANDING, JUSTICE.QUESTIONS MOUNT IN A DEADLY ANDBRUTAL ATTACK OF TWO WOMEN ATTHE TRACK.IT LEFT HER DAD AND HER --WHO WOULD THINK SOMEBODY INTHEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD WAKE UPIN THE MORNING AND SAY I'M GOINGTO HARM PEOPLE?THAT IS NOT NORMAL.MAX: JULIA ORTIZ IS A NEIGHBORTO BOTH WOMEN AND MET HER 46YEARS AGO WHEN JULIA WAS JUST ASEVEN.>> WE WOULD GO DOWN THERE ANDSHE WAS ALWAYS GIVING US CANDY.>> OVER THE YEARS, JULIA GREW TOKNOW A WARM AND LOVING PERSON.>> VERY NICE AND VERY SWEET ANDFRIENDLY, ALWAYS SMILING ANDWAVING.MAX: AND HELPFUL, TO.>> HIS WIFE WAS VERY ILL AND SHEWAS OUT THERE EVERY DAY TRYINGTO HELP HER OUT OF THEWHEELCHAIR, AND WALKING.MAX: THAT NEIGHBOR, LLOYDMILLER.>> JUST A WONDERFUL PERSON, ISALL I CAN TELL YOU.MAX: HE AND HIS WIFE MOVED TOTHE NEIGHBORHOOD MORE THAN 50YEARS AGO.>> JUST LIKE A SISTER TO ME.MAX: A SISTER HE WOULD SEE EVERYDAY AS SHE WOULD LEAVE FOR HERWALK.AS THE COMMUNITY MOURNS THEIRLOSS, INVESTIGATORS WITH THESACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'SOFFICE CONTINUE THEIRINVESTIGATION.THEY SAY AN 18-YEAR-OLD MAN NOWIN CUSTODY IS A PERSON OFINTEREST IN AN ASSAULT THAT SAMEDAY.ALSO, AGAINST A FEMALE SENIORCITIZEN.JUSTICE FOR HER.

Woman, 86, died while protecting friend during attack

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Updated: 2:21 AM EDT Apr 28, 2017

NORTH HIGHLANDS, Calif. —

A community home to the victims of a deadly attack on a high school track is mourning the loss of a friend and hoping for the speedy recovery of another.

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As questions mount about what led to the attack, who would commit it and why it was carried out, lifelong neighbors of the victims demand justice.

The attacker sexually assaulted both victims before running from the track toward Walerga Road, the sheriff’s department said.

Petrus was pronounced dead at the scene. The 61-year-old had injuries to her torso, face and head. Her family said she is out of the hospital and recovering.

“Who would think somebody in their right mind would wake up in the morning and say,'I’m going to harm some people?' I mean, that's just not normal,” Julia Ortiz said.

Ortiz first met Petrus in 1971. Ortiz had just moved onto the same street as Petrus in a North Highlands neighborhood.

“(Petrus) was already here. Her and her husband had lived in the house down the street," Ortiz recalled. "They had been here a few years before my parents bought the house.”

KCRA-TV

Petrus immigrated to Sacramento County from Kyoto, Japan. Her late husband was in the military. The pair were avid bowlers when her husband was alive.

Ortiz described Petrus as sweet and friendly — someone who was quick with a smile and a wave. She remembers trying Japanese candies at Petrus’ home. She also remembered how her father would paint the Petrus’ home every few years.

“She was a very giving person," Ortiz said. "One of the neighbors down the street — his wife was very ill. And, she was out there every day trying to help her out of the wheelchair and walking. She still to this day, until last Monday, was helping him take his trash out to the road because he’s in a wheelchair now.”

That man, Lloyd Miller, said Petrus was like family.

“She was my, just like a sister to me,” he said. “She was a wonderful person. That's all I can tell you.”

The attacker was described as a black man in his 30s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing between 150 and 160 pounds. He has short, curly hair with no facial hair. He was last seen wearing black sweatpants and a burgundy sweatshirt, the sheriff's department said.